really adult-like thursday nights

It has come to my attention that my last blog title, "Hello, Spring!" is incorrect, and not intentionally. Portland winter has lasted so long that I forgot it was already June, or already almost not June. I'm still wearing jackets. Why are you cold, Portland!? Get with it.

Rachel and I spent the afternoon at the Portland Nursery, and then repotted my tomatoes in my "backyard." If you live in Portland and haven't been to the Portland Nursery and you like plants, and even if you don't, it's really stellar. I was so overwhelmed by the selection of starters. I've dreamed of having a jasmine plant, and I have I feeling I could find it there. And, Rachel and I learned that their Pesto Perpetuo basil plant smells exactly like basil pesto, and that we need it. Bad.



There are downsides to living in high-density uptown, one of which is the lack of garden space, but directly outside my window (and unfortunately, above the trash cans) is a concrete platform which gets tons of sunlight, and is never used! I'm requisitioning it for my little tomato/basil patch.


Here's my "backyard." You might see some little kitty heads poking out of the corner window - that's TimTim and Avie, my super rad neighbors' cats. (Both neighbors and cats are rad.)


These very brave kitties want to come out, but it's so far down! :(




This is my biggest tomato plant, my pride and joy. I can't believe this grew from a tiny little seed! The root formation was so impressive.


I agitated the roots a little, because I hear that helps them take root in new soil.


Meanwhile, our kitty friends are still undecided.


An important part of gardening is taking phone calls with weird demonic looks on your face.


We got bamboo poles to stake our tomatoes. Sustainable! (But not for pandas.)








I'm putting love into that pot.


This little watermelon toothpick marks my favorite tomato plant. But I still love them all equally, of course...


TimTim finally came out!




I got my hands dirty? Oh no!


Avie came out too...but only after my neighbor Hannah helped her down.


I felt like there was too much bare space in the huge tomato planters, so I put my biggest basil plant in there too. We'll see how that turns out.

So then we got the boys and headed out to Sauvie Island for some strawberry picking. The fact that I even live in a place where this is possible is so awesome to me.




Alex immediately became disenchanted when the VooDoo donuts truck was sold out.


Little juicy strawbrys growing everywhere! Would you believe it, just a few years ago I had never even eaten a strawbry! Now I think they are pretty much the greatest.


Then sun even came out for us.


Strawbry picking is not as easy as I imagined. You kind of have to just look for the glimpses of bright red, and hope that Alex doesn't snipe your strawbry out from under you.


Rachel is apparently an angel, or I am just a bad photographer in bright lighting.


Ahem. Deformed berries.




The most perfectly-shaped little strawbry ever!


I think they like each other.


Alex, sampling the goods.










When you give Rachel your camera, you get lots of pictures of Alex.




Later, Geoff and Alex played chess by candlelight while us ladies baked scones. (Thanks for the help, guys! :))


Then, for our take on strawbry shortcake, we put ice cream (coconut milk ice cream for the vegans!) and strawberries on top of the scones.


It was delicious as hell.


Oh, did I mention that aside from the fun of picking your own strawbrys in the sunshine, we also got them for dirt cheap? $2 a pound for freshly picked berries! And I even know that no humans were harmed in the picking of my berries.

I'm going to go eat myself sick on strawbrys now.